Witch's Curse
by Rhearenee
Summary: Monster AU. Trying to fill the lapse in her memory Ochako sets out on a journey to regain her lost time. Getting back to how her life used to be isn't easy especially when monster hunters are hot on your trail. Thankfully she isn't alone, yet she can't shake off the feeling that there is something more to her irate companion, that he's hiding something.


_Ah, wow, I'm not sure what this really is. Once again my dreams provide me with weird ideas and me being the weirdo I am I add fuel to them and create stories from them. So this will be more like a monster AU, which partially was inspired from the Halloween costumes some of the characters had. I didn't want to go full fantasy, so I decided to stick to the supernatural. I've been wanting to add something to the Kacchako fandom for a while, so here is me doing just that.  
_

* * *

She'd been wandering the forest for full twenty minutes, seemingly lost in the dark thick of trees. Ochako felt like she should know the terrain, yet it felt alien to her. She could tell that it was sometime near early morning, sun barely peeking over the horizon. Morning dew had settled on her cloak, hat and dress, but she barely felt it – she'd already woken up in the middle of a mossy clearing, wet to the bone. The forest itself was eerie quiet, she'd only heard an animal or two scamper off during her time of search.

Search for what?

She didn't know. She wasn't sure what she should even be feeling. She felt empty, like there was something missing, something she was forgetting. It was bugging her.

Ochako realized that she should probably contact some of her coven friends, find what's going on, but the feeling like she was searching for something wouldn't leave her alone and she felt like it was her duty to find out.

Tree branches snapped under her boots, crickets were chirping all around and from somewhere distant she heard a frog croak. Letting her eyes follow the sound she briefly realized that she'd wandered in a swamp. Looking down at her feet she saw water around her boots from where it was pressing down on the deep green moss. Her feet were undoubtedly wet and cold, but her wandering mind had managed to keep her attention away from the cold she was feeling. Thankfully there was no wind, only the croaks of the frog, chirping of crickets and the sparse terrain of small birch trees and heavy foliage.

Ochako sighed and lightened her grip on her satchel.

She should probably try to find out where she is and not walk around aimlessly. Obviously a forest spirit had caught on her blind wandering and had subtly led her to the swamp. She knew better than to let a measly spirit fool her to a watery death, but alas – here she was.

The brunette turned around and walked the other way, searching for a dry spot where she could sit down and pull out her map.

Her feet kept making loud squelching sounds and the more she walked the more she could feel the water seep through her boots. It was only after a while that between the frog, crickets and the squelching she heard different sounds. Stopping in place, she closed her eyes and focused on the odd sound she'd heard before.

She heard shouts, footsteps and rustling of leaves and breaking branches.

Snapping her eyes open she angled her head to where the sounds were coming from. She couldn't make out the words that were being shouted, but she didn't need to hear much to know who they were.

Hunters.

She had a particular distaste towards hunters, harming creatures who'd done nothing wrong or destroying their habitats. Heck, hunters had even come after her, but she wasn't a monster. She was a simple girl, with simple features that happened to know witchcraft. She wasn't even that proficient in it, she was barely over two hundred years old, which compared to her much older coven teachers was nothing. She'd only scratched the surface of witchcraft and her spellbook in her years alive.

Deciding to check out what was going on she sprinted towards the scuffle. Her cold feet were protesting the action, but she ignored it and pulled out her wand instead. The familiar mass of numerous cherry tree branches, pulled together with two iron bands was welcoming, sitting just right in her palm.

The voices were getting closer and she could tell from the breathless shouts that whatever they were chasing they had been chasing for a while, it was moving fast, too. Ochako new that she'd have to move just as fast if she wanted to save the creature they were tormenting without a fight. If it would come down to it, she would attack, but due to her current state of mind she didn't feel like she'd be up to a tussle with enraged humans.

Setting her path just a few meters away from the loud humans she pushed forward, keeping her feet light with her magic in hopes that she'd catch up to the creature.

Vertigo was settling in at the edges of her consciousness - she'd been much more tired than she'd thought she was. Though her efforts were not in vain when she caught up with the huffing creature. She only had a moment to rake her eyes over it's large hairy form and heavy claws. It was a lycan if she'd had to guess, then again the sharp ears and equally as sharp set of teeth kind of gave it away.

She didn't mull over the lycan's appearance much after that, noticing that it was injured, it's dark fur covered in darker splotches of blood. It probably was how the hunters had managed to follow the lycan for so long – its dripping wound leaving obvious marks on the ground.

Ochako grit her teeth and stopped her run on a stump to mutter an incantation. She wasn't a forest witch, so she wasn't sure how well her spell would work, but she hoped nonetheless. Waving her wand she watched as the forest moved itself, trees changing their places and the ground rippling, effectively derailing the track of blood in a different direction. She smiled and hopped forward from her perch on the stump, following the wolf like creature again. That should keep them busy for a while, hopefully enough for her to help the lycan and get away.

After a minute or two of running she was glad to hear that the voices of the hunters were diminishing. Her quick plan had worked and now all that was left was for her to help the poor creature.

She knew it hadn't gotten far, its injury too grave for it to keep going on much longer, so when she found the lycan running again, albeit in a slower pace than before, she didn't stop to jump in front of it, arms extended.

"Wait!"

The creature nearly collided with her, but managed to stop before that. She saw that it was about to pass her, to bolt in a different direction.

She once again blocked its path, determination on her face. "Wait, I can help. I'm not here to hurt you." She watched it bare its teeth at her and snarl. "I derailed the hunters, so you don't have to run any more." It still wouldn't listen to her and tried to sidestep her. She knew that it was an intelligent creature, a person just like her, so she wasn't going to relent. It was probably just too scared to hear her, instinct telling it to run. "I can heal you. I'm a witch, I've practised the art."

The creature stopped, its ears perking at her voice. It finally faced her and she was met with piercing red eyes.

A shiver ran down her spine at the almost feral look in its eye, the not really wolf, not really human muzzle full of teeth adding to the effect. She let down her hands and reigned in her fear – it wouldn't do good for her to be scared now. She approached the creature in slow steps, her boots still making that squelching sound. She saw its form tense, but it didn't move away when she gently placed her dirty, cold hand at top its furry head.

Ochako smiled. "There, that's better now."

Her victory was short lived when the lycan moved its head away from her touch and stood on its hind legs, easily towering over her. Like this the creature looked more human than wolf, a hybrid of sorts. She hadn't seen many lycans in her life time, still it was fascinating to see one whenever she ran into one, their physiology amazing to look at. It walked away from her and sat at the edge of a tree in the most human way she'd had seen it look so far.

Taking that as a sign that it'll comply Ochako flipped open her satchel in search for her healing cream. While doing so she heard the snapping of bone. Raising her head she was faced with the lycan's transformation back to a human – a human man, to be more specific.

She paid little attention to the man's appearance, her eyes immediately setting upon the gnarly gash at his side that still was dripping red down his naked torso.

Her remedy in hand, she didn't think when she approached him, sitting near and opening her container of her mix of healing herbs, but before she could do that she knew she'll have to clean the blood away. She didn't have a spare cloth on her, so she quickly decided to sacrifice her cloak. She unclipped it from where it was fastened around her neck and wasted no time to clean most of the blood away.

The man hissed, but thankfully didn't push her away.

She wasn't highly proficient in the healing arts, but she'd helped out many other creatures in her time to pick up some basic things. When she deemed the wound clean enough she put her cloak down to replace it with her water canteen. She poured all of its contents over the angry red wound for good measure. She put that down and picked up her cream container. Dipping her fingers in it she gathered a generous amount of the cream on her fingers and applied it to the wound before it could start bleeding again. The process was painless and quick, she'd infused enough magic in the cream for it to work instantaneously, closing up the gash with new skin.

Satisfied with her work, Ochako leaned back, a small smile on her face. It always made her feel better to know that she'd saved a helpless creature or a person from hunters. Finally raising her head to face the man her smile faltered slightly when she was met with the same piercing red eyes. His brows were drawn and on his lips was a scowl. Only now she noticed that his hair was ashen blonde, a stark contrast to the dark fur he'd possessed as a lycan. There was something awfully familiar about the face, but she didn't let herself hang onto that, pushing a grin forward instead. "All better."

His gaze was almost unsettling and the way he was roaming his eyes over her, it was almost intimate. Again Ochako didn't let herself get stuck on those thoughts. He exhaled slowly, finally leaving her face with that red gaze of his and ran a hand through his spiky blonde hair, ruffing out the specks of dirt that had gathered there. "Thanks."

Ochako had to hold back a giggle from the excitement at finally hearing him speak and say thanks to her. She kind of liked the sound of his gruff voice. "No problem, it's what I do."

Suddenly his sights were back on her, an accusing, angry look in them. "Where were you?"

The witch blinked, confusion settling over her. "I don't know," she replied honestly. "I just woke up in the middle of a field without any recollection on how I'd gotten there."

A glint of understanding passed through his eyes before he turned away from her. "Never mind then."

Ochako tilted her head to the side, finding the situation odd. He was acting really strange. "Do you know why I was there?"

"No clue."

She frowned. There goes out her hopes in finding out what had happened to land her in the middle of the forest. "Ah, well, that's okay."

She cast a glance around her, noticing that the chirping of birds had joined a few distant croaks. The forest was lighter too, the morning sun shining it's few rays through the thickness of the leaves. It was still cold though and it was a harsh reminder to her that she was wet and probably a hair's breadth away from hypothermia.

"We should go before the hunters come back."

His gravelly voice snapped her out of her inspection of the trees. Nodding her head she went to place her cream container and canteen back in her satchel, she went to grab for her cloak as well, but he beat her to it. She only had a moment to realize that he was naked, seeing as he unabashedly got up and tied her bloodied cloak around his hips. She definitely saw way more than she'd wanted to see. Blushing a crass scarlet Ochako averted her gaze and hastly got up from the ground, making sure to look anywhere but him. She'd completely forgotten _that_ little titbit about lycans.

He set the pace and she had to catch up to him in order not to be left behind. He didn't say anything during their trek to who knows where and Ochako was too embarrassed to speak up. Eventually curiosity won.

"Where are we and where are we going?"

" _Kaeru forest._ "

Frog forest? That explained all of the croaking that only had increased with the sun's rise and the seemingly never ending swamp. Though that meant that she now knew where she was. She knew that the terrain had been familiar, yet it was a bit different from what she'd remembered.

The brunette huffed and stepped over a protruding tree root. He was walking swiftly and she was at the end of her wits, tired from the running and whatever had happened before she'd woken up. "Still where are we going?"

He suddenly stopped and threw a short glance towards her over his shoulder before changing his direction sharply to the left. "There's a safe house not far from here. We should rest there until the hunters give up their search for me."

Despite her tired state Ochako used some of her magic on herself to make her steps lighter, so she could manage to keep in step with his long strides. Getting to safety was their primary objective. His mention of a safe house reminded her that her coven had a similar place in this forest. Wait a minute.

"How do you know about our safe house? It's the only one in this forest and no one else outside my coven should know about it." She narrowed her eyes at his naked back. Something was wrong here.

"I just do, so shut your damn mouth and follow me," he snapped back and picked up his pace, irritation rolling off him in waves.

She left her mouth open at his sudden change of attitude and use of language. She had no clue what she'd done for him to suddenly yell at her like that. She had to pick up her pace as well for her to keep up with him. She had a snappy retort on her tongue, but she swallowed it down and settled on glaring at his well defined back instead. She was going to find out what was up with that sooner or later, after all she had her ways of extracting information.

By the time they reached the safe house, that was hidden in a mass of moss covered trees, she was near to the point where she'd collapse and pass out if she didn't get to lay down. Using her gravity magic on herself for such extended periods of time always ended up with a case of vertigo for her, no matter how many years she'd practised it.

She briefly wondered how he was going to open the door, since only witches from her coven could open it. With his mood she half expected for him to break down the door. Instead he surprised her by moving aside and indicating with his head for her to open the door. Ah, so he was aware of the lock.

Ochako stumbled up to the door and put her hand on the door handle, pushing in it her last wisps of magic. The door opened with a click and the gravity witch made a beeline towards where she knew a couple of beds where. As soon as her head hit the pillow she was out like a light.

She awoke some time later to the sound of a crackling fire and warmth, the warmth was so nice that she nearly fell asleep again before a loud sound startled her awake.

"Oi! Come here."

"Whu-what?" She rubbed her bleary eyes and sat up to the sight of the lycan man, whose name she still has to learn, sitting cross-legged near a fire place thankfully dressed (though she did wonder where he found those clothes), his back to her.

Ochako stiffly rolled out of the bed, noting that her once wet clothes had dried and were much warmer now. She lumped over to where he was sitting, rubbing her still blurry eyes from sleep. She sat near him, letting a small smile grace her lips at the heat emitting from the fire place. He must have set it up and she appreciated it greatly.

"How are you?"

"Oh, umm...better." She turned to face him when it felt like he wasn't going to reply to her as she'd expected.

He wasn't paying any attention to her instead finding more interest in the glowy object in his hands. A harsh scowl was on his face, his fingers flying over the glowy object in almost violent movements. She was curious to know what was so interesting about the object in his hands for him to be so focused on it, but the look on his face made her hold her tongue. Somehow she had a feeling that it wouldn't fare well to anger him.

She turned her attention back to the fire, finding new interest in the flames licking the wood. After a moment she decided to remove her boots. Her tired feet appreciated the gesture. She spread her now sock clad feet before her.

The quiet was nice and all, but she still had numerous questions in her mind. The feeling like she was missing something was still sitting deep in her stomach and the longer she was alone with her thoughts the more it gnawed on her.

The blonde man besides her growled, the sound catching her attention. Even when he looked human now that growl had sounded like an animal's. She took note of the plain black shirt he was wearing and what she assumed were slacks, his feet were bare though. Just from his profile alone she could tell that he was fairly attractive, the constant scowling was a bit off putting for her, but it kind of added to his charm.

She hummed slightly to herself a single question weighing her mind. "What's your name?"

He looked up from his furious tapping and opened his mouth, but he abruptly stopped, scoffed and turned back to doing what he previously was doing. For a moment she thought that he won't answer her at all before he quietly murmured, "Katsuki."

Ochako perked up at that, ignoring his foul mood. "I'm Ochako. I want to thank you for helping me. If it hadn't been for you I'd probably get lost in the woods and die from hypothermia. I have no idea how I landed here and what's exactly going on, but-"

He abruptly cut her off. "You talk too much."

The witch giggled sheepishly. "Sorry." She tilted her head to the side to get a better look at what he was constantly tapping at. She couldn't understand what was so interesting about a glowing rectangular shaped object. "What's that?"

Katsuki glanced up from his tapping to grace her with an impassive look of near annoyance. "My phone."

Ochako laughed. "Phones don't look like that, silly. There isn't even a cord attached to it."

"Ah, right. My bad."

She couldn't shake off the feeling that he was brushing her off if the subtle sarcasm was anything to go by. He hadn't answered her question, though. "Still what is it?"

He completely brushed her question off by pocketing his glowy object and standing up, body rigid. "Gather your things, we're leaving."

Ochako spluttered, putting back on her boots and tying them up. "Where are we going?" She tilted her head just in time to see him opening the door.

"To visit a friend of yours."

She raised her eyebrow at his insinuation. She's sure she has never met him before, so how could he possibly know who her friends are? She quickly checked herself for anything amiss, seeing her satchel still around her body made her sigh in relief. Still she ran to the closet in the corner of the wooden cabin and pulled out a new cloak for herself, seeing as Katsuki had discarded her old one somewhere, not that she wanted it back.

She intended to ask him how he knew who her friends are, but he beat her to it.

"I just happen to know a witch that might be able to help you."

The brunette walked up to him, nodding. A bit rude of him to assume that all witches knew each other because they were witches, but she wasn't in the mood to argue. She quickly rowed her eyes over his ensemble and noticed that he still was lacking shoes and a jacket. It might have been the middle of summer, but amongst the thick leaves of the forest, where the sun rays rarely shone through it was a lot colder, not to mention how uncomfortable it was to walk without shoes. "Shouldn't you dress a bit better?" She followed him out the door.

"Not needed."

"Oh?"

He didn't deign her with a reply after that. She could only guess that it was a lycan thing.

Ochako fell in step with Katsuki, letting him lead her to that witch of his.

It was night-time outside again, indicating that she'd slept the day away. Unlike the previous night the croaking of the frogs and chirping of crickets was a lot louder, with the occasional owl hoot in the middle.

They'd been walking in quiet for five minutes and Ochako's curiosity was getting the best of her. "So...you know what happened to me?"

"No."

"Then how do you know that that witch would be able to help me?"

"I don't."

"Wha?" Her step faltered. Then why was she even following him? "Then what's the point of this? I can call a friend of mine and be on my merry way, I've been long over due a visit to her anyway."

"Just shut your mouth and follow me," he snapped, not even sparing a glance her way.

Ochako stopped in her tracks, glaring at the blonde. "No! I don't even know you. Why should I follow you when you don't know anything? I can solve my problems on my own."

Katsuki turned to face her while rubbing the bridge of his nose. "You talk too fucking much."

She scrunched her face in displeasure and pivoted on her heel to walk the opposite way. "Goodbye!" Suddenly his hand caught her forearm and she had to forcefully rip her hand away from him to continue her pace, but he wasn't letting her go.

"Fucking stop for a minute, round face," he bit out, at the end of his patience and Ochako could tell, his grip on her arm was nearly bruising.

"No! And let me go! You can't even tell me anything."

"Ain't gonna happen, but if you were patient for ten fucking minutes you'd find out what's going on."

"Why can't you just tell me?" She raised her head to meet him head on, eyes blazing. "What's up with all this secrecy?"

He sighed harshly and lessened his hold on her. "There's no secrecy, I'm just trying to find a way to break it to you."

Her brows scrunched in confusion. "Break what?"

"That you seem to have some sort of amnesia or shit like that, I don't fucking know. You didn't even know what a smart phone is."

"A...smart phone?"

He sighed again and she could see his other hand clenching and unclenching at his side. "Just come with me and be quiet, you're giving me a headache."

She dubiously eyed him. What was up with this guy? Why was he so adamant to help her when it looked like he wanted to do anything else but that? He couldn't even properly explain things to her. He was giving _her_ a headache with that attitude. Still what he had said had caught her attention, she truly did not know what that device in his hand had been. It reminded her about her gut feeling and the wrongness of everything, how she should know the forest, how it felt like she was missing something.

If he was right, then she might have amnesia. But for how long? Last she remembers phones were these clunky plastic things and were a pain to use; waiting for the operators to connect her call to the other person she was calling could take up to an hour. That's why she'd always preferred to use magic to call her friends. Imagining that that whole thing could be done from a small hand held device was mind boggling.

Ochako sighed dejectedly. "Alright."

He finally let go of her hand, giving her a last pointed glare that she had no problems returning. Geez, the nerve of him.

They didn't get far though, a sudden screech erupted through the forest, making Ochako pause. Screeches like that were familiar to her, though not in an environment like this. Something was seriously wrong for a ghoul to end up in a forest. She didn't waste time to run towards the noise, using her magic on herself to make her move faster.

She briefly heard Katsuki swear colourfully from behind and follow her.

The dark forest was wooshing by her and the screeching was becoming louder the closer she got. She didn't hear hunters anywhere near her, so she guessed that they must have chased the creature away from its natural habitat. She pulled out her wand just in case. If the creature was injured she was going to need it anyway, her healing cream only worked on humanoid monsters.

Her eyes quickly locked on a bundle of black under a bush not too far from her. Its breathing was erratic and it was laying in a puddle of black. It was injured and Ochako wasted no time to run to it, kneeling down to inspect the damage.

"It's alright little guy. I'm going to help you." Yet she was afraid to touch it. She couldn't find where it was injured or see its head, it was just a bundle of black skin and fur, panting erratically. It was just a baby and it made her heart ache more to think that those horrible hunters had scared it so far away from its home.

"The fuck you're doing?"

Katsuki's voice surprised her for a moment, but she didn't let his words get to her. She turned her head to glare at him. "I'm helping it."

He stood beside her, hands deep in his pockets, looking at her like she'd lost a screw. "Don't tell me you're delusional now as well. Isn't that just fan-fucking-tastic." He grumbled more insults that Ochako by that point ignored.

Gently she reached out her hand to touch the monster. It's flesh was cold, like any other ghouls.

Suddenly Katsuki took her wrist and pulled it back.

She tried to snatch her hand back from him, but his grip was too strong. She tilted her head to glare at him.

He was crouching beside her, eyes focused on the creature that was obviously in pain.

"What the hell is your problem?! I'm trying to help it," she yelled, making a near by owl take off from a tree. She was at the end of her patience. He was crossing the line now. She could handle rudeness and that damn attitude of his, but if he thought that he could stop her from helping others in need he was sourly mistaken.

"Calm your tits, woman. There's obviously something there that you're not seeing."

Incredulously she spluttered at his neutral tone. She tried to pull her hand free, but he held her still in place. She had half a mind to use her wand on him. She almost regretted saving him from the hunters. How could he be so heartless as to let a poor innocent creature suffer? Why is he doing this?

The blonde ignored her, the ever present scowl on his face. He raised his other hand and Ochako watched in amazement as his hand morphed into a claw. He let go of her wrist and moved his hand to hold her back. Before the witch could understand what he was doing he plunged his clawed hand in the ghouls body.

She screamed out loud and lunged forward to stop him, but he had predicted this as his other hand kept her from doing that. She wanted to shout at him for being an idiot, hit his stupid face. The sight before her made her pause, though. The ghoul had stopped moving and there was no blood on Katsuki's arm like she'd expected. In fact it looked like the creature was almost see through.

Bewildered she watched as he pulled his hand out, covered in dirt, something rectangular in his grasp. The ghoul and the puddle of blood vanished. Ochako gasped. He shook his hand free from dirt and used his other hand to take her free hand. He placed what appeared to be some kind of a box in her open palm.

"Wha-what is this?"

"You tell me."

She eyed him from the corner of her eye, seeing him clean his now human hand on his pants. She sat back on the ground and gently run her fingers over the small wooden box. How did he know that it was there? What happened to the ghoul? Was it magic? She swallowed the knot that suddenly raised in her throat. She couldn't push down the feeling of something being wrong, that something was amiss, that she was forgetting something about this box.

Her fingers shook when she opened the small iron latch. Gingerly she raised the cover.

Her world exploded into colours and images for a moment before the swirling stopped on a scene and she could see herself from the third person, wearing garb that wasn't hers. Weapons that she'd never had were strapped to her hips. She was standing in the same place she was now, sneering down at a bundle of whimpering black. The bundle was screeching and she watched herself pull out a knife and chop off the creature's head.

Ochako gasped the image fading from her mind's eye. Her eyes were wide, staring at the hole Katsuki had created in the ground. Pieces of her memories seemed to come back to her and she could suddenly remember herself quite a while ago wreck havoc in a cemetery, killing any ghoul she'd see. One of them had scampered off and she had taken it up to herself to chase it down to this same location and kill it.

She bit her lip and closed the box, placing it back in the ground. "I killed it," she whispered, welling up tears blinding her vision.

"Hm?"

She'd forgotten that she wasn't alone, so she repeated, "I killed this baby ghoul, Katsuki. Not only that, I killed a whole nest of them."

He stood, hands back in his pockets. "Let's get out of here."

She whipped her head towards him. "Don't you understand?! I killed innocent creatures. I'm a killer..I-I..." she whimpered. She wanted to regain her memories, remember what had happened to her, but she didn't want to remember this. She wasn't a killer, she was a saviour. She healed, she helped. She didn't kill. She practised white magic.

Why? Why was this happening? Was that a fake she'd seen? A joke someone had left out in the open for some fool to stumble upon? Then why did it feel so real? Why did it feel like her hands were drenched in the blood of her fellow monsters?

Katsuki abruptly pulled her off the ground by her upper arm. "Stop weeping and let's go. Crying won't solve anything."

She was feeling too distraught to argue with him any more, so she let him drag her back to their previous path, all the while she felt like she'd fallen in an alternate universe. A ball of anxiety wrenched her gut. The feeling of something being seriously wrong was suffocating.

* * *

 _I'm not sure how well I did with the characterization, though considering some of the circumstances I think it makes sense. I'm sorry if it doesn't, some pointers on that would be good then. I also despise tsunderes with a burning passion, so Katsuki is definitely not going to be one. I partially feel like something is wrong with this (then again I feel like that about every story I write), the grammar obviously is something that could improve, but I feel like there's something else that I always seem to get wrong when I write stories, I just cant figure out what. Ah well...  
_

 _I'm planning to post other new stories as well, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to continue this, it all really depends on interest._

 _I also thought that I should probably name the spirits or monsters I mention in each chapter here to clear up any confusion if any does arise. So in this chapter I mentioned a spirit called vadātājs that misleads people, which comes from Latvian mythology._


End file.
